Knee Deep in Sand
by korinara
Summary: Gaara & Sakura. Pre timeskip. On an escort mission to Sand, Sakura runs into someone she'd like to never see again. She just wishes she could actually BELIEVE that statement. Since when had he been so incredibly fascinating?
1. Chapter One

**Knee Deep in Sand**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; beta-ed by randomsome1 in the livejournal community NarutoBetas.

A/N: EDIT--No longer a one-shot! I've decided to make it a multi-chapter, for your reading pleasure. Enjoy it!

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Haruno Sakura had never been much of a "desert person." 

In fact, she absolutely _despised_ the desert. She was the type to be extremely susceptible to sunburns; extremely susceptible to heatstrokes; extremely susceptible to any and all afflictions that had any direct—or even _in_direct, in some cases—tie-ins with the brutal, harsh climate of the desert. And it didn't help matters much that this particular man who they were told to escort, going by the name of Kenji, just _had_ to be a whiny little baby about anything and everything they did.

Travel for a few more hours? Oh, no. He was much too tired to do that.

Make camp under this projection of rock in the endless sand for the day? Oh, no. He was much too afraid of the bugs crawling on it to do that.

Take Sakura's advice and use the water _sparingly_ so that the _rest_ of team seven could get some, too? Oh, no. He was much too thirsty to do that.

Quite frankly…Sakura was tired of it all.

Finally, Kakashi managed to calm the man's insistent fear of insects, urging him to rest while he could; because as soon as dusk came upon them, they would be heading for Sand again.

Naruto and Sasuke weren't having a particularly easy time with it, either. Occasionally Naruto would complain about the "gallons of sand" that had somehow managed to seep inside his sweat-bathed sandals; but other than that, it seemed his limitless supply of cheerful energy had finally been—if only to some limited extent—eroded down by the unrelenting heat of the sun. Sasuke hadn't really talked the whole trip—only once or twice to ask Kakashi a question about their location or request that they stop and gather more water and food—but it was obvious he was feeling the effects of their travels, too. And now, as the afternoon sun stayed stubbornly affixed in the middle of the sky, Sakura inwardly wondered whether or not they'd all make it out of this _alive_. Easy mission though it was, the brutal travel through the desert would surely leave them wishing to never set foot near any kind of sand ever again.

"Sakura," Kakashi said suddenly, catching her attention as she fanned herself. "There is a little bit of water a ways down from here. You can see it in the distance."

She turned her head around to stare in the direction he was pointing—and, indeed, there was an oasis sticking out in the desolate landscape like a very green sore thumb. "Yes, I see it."

"Good." He leaned back against the rock, smiling behind his mask. "Play rock-paper-scissors with Naruto and Sasuke to see who gets to go refill the canteens." She gave her teacher a glare of certain death, but not feeling quite in the mood to argue, obliged and approached her other two teammates.

The two of them were sitting a few feet away from the rest of the group, and Sasuke was closing his eyes as Naruto periodically tormented a lizard. Said blond boy looked up at her and smiled. "What's up, Sakura?"

She held out her fist on her palm. "Rock-paper-scissors," was her reply in a grunt.

Sasuke gave her a lame look. "Are you serious?"

"Kakashi told me to play rock-paper-scissors to see who gets to go fill up all our canteens at the oasis." She urged the two of them to join in, scowling.

After a very rousing game with the virtually unbeatable Naruto, it was down to Sasuke and Sakura.

Naruto laughed in the background. "That's what you get for challenging the rock-paper-scissors champ!"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura snapped.

Sasuke growled. "Let's just get this over with."

"Right," she said, fixing her attention on Sasuke's hand and began the countdown. "One."

"Two," Sasuke continued tiredly.

"Three!" Sakura shouted, hoping for the best.

In a slow, lazy movement, Sasuke's hand covered her fist, imitating the infamous paper-beats-rock move.

"Man!" She let Inner Sakura let out a string of rather harsh obscenities as Sasuke smirked and handed her his canteen.

"Hey, Sakura, I can go if you don't really want to go," Naruto said, taking out his canteen also.

She snatched it out of his hands, refusing his offer. She wasn't about to let _Naruto_ give her pity. Especially in a ridiculous situation such as this. "I'm _fine__."_

Passing back by Kakashi and Kenji, she put her hands on her hips as she stood over their sitting forms.

"You lost?" her teacher asked slowly.

She pouted, holding up the canteens. "What do you think?"

He laughed and handed her his, and the man's as well. "At least you were smart enough to not challenge _me_, also."

"Yeah, yeah…" She headed towards the oasis, holding two canteens in each hand by the straps, keeping her one tied to her waist.

The sun, the sand, the actual _sight_ of the heat hissing and dancing just above the ground… It was all enough to drive her completely insane. And the thought that there wasn't relief from this ridiculous climate for _hours_ wasn't exactly encouraging.

Instead she walked slowly, not bothering to wipe at the sweat, not bothering to pay notice to the particles of sand that were accumulating in her sandals and getting between her toes.

Her momentary strife was ended soon enough, though, when the oasis came into view: a simple splash of dull jade and sparkle in the otherwise bland and uninteresting scenery.

"Not that this _mudhole_ is particularly fascinating, anyway," she snorted to herself, settling in the greens that grew around the source of moisture and thrusting her hands into the water.

It wasn't exactly cold and refreshing, but it wasn't warm either. Room temperature at best. She splashed her face and neck with it, heaving a sigh and massaging at the stinging areas of her skin. When she felt as rejuvenated as she _could_ feel at the moment, she turned around halfway, glancing back towards the outcropping of rocks that her teammates were resting under. She could see Kakashi's bright orange book in the distance—a miniscule dot against what was otherwise just some darker shade of grey—so she concentrated instead on the water before her.

Her reflection confirmed her worst fear.

She was terribly sunburned. Which meant that she was red. Which meant that she was unattractive. Which meant that Sasuke would probably never look at her the same way again.

Growling in frustration, she splashed more water on herself, this time scrubbing frantically at her nose, cheeks, and area just above her eyes frantically. As if actually expecting this antic to succeed and make her pale again and _slightly_ less unattractive, she peered cautiously back into the water.

"No!" she wailed, covering her face with her hands. "This can't be happening! I just made it _worse__!"_

Her groaning and wallowing in self-pity continued on for several minutes, finally reducing to whimpers of internal agony when the heat of the sun began to beat quite harshly on her back and shoulders.

And then she hated herself even more when she realized that someone had been advancing on the oasis from her right. She hadn't even noticed it.

Messy red mop of hair, giant gourd strapped to his back, uncaring gait… Oh, yes. That was definitely Gaara of the Desert. She'd learned his name after Naruto had quickly corrected her declaration of him being just "that Sand guy" in her books. She supposed that _would_ probably be some form of disrespect to the mesh-wearing boy, and forbid the day she would ever address him as such.

Inner Sakura shrieked and fell into a defeated pile of rubble at the same time Sakura's hands clenched in the sand. He didn't _look_ like he was ready to kill her—he was actually not even looking at her—but then again one could never trust just outward appearances. Besides, he was a killer; he was a monster; he was _Gaara_

A quick glance behind her told her that Kakashi wasn't paying any attention, so she cursed under her breath and instead kept her gaze locked on the boy before her.

He came into full view, once more not even giving her a fleeting glare, and got to his knees in front of the water. A hand dug in his pocket, pulling out what seemed to be a broken canteen—completely cracked down the side—and he smashed it into the sand.

She refused to look at him anymore, but instead at the water, and when it distinctly rippled she knew he had plunged his hands into it and had begun to drink.

Casually, curiously, yet fearful at the same time, her gaze moved to rest on his broken canteen. A thought occurred to her and one of her fingers twitched in her now lax fists. How long had it been broken?

She could hear him desperately try to drink the water before it trickled through his fingers, then dip his cupped palms again to gather more.

He must be incredibly thirsty…

Inner Sakura, who had recently been revived, violently protested it. He could kill her! Scratch that, he _would_ kill her!

But she reached for her own canteen anyway, gripping it tight in two hands. She bit her bottom lip first before muttering softly, "Gaara?"

With her eyes still downcast, the only indication that she could tell he had heard her—and acknowledged her—was that the sipping noises had stopped.

There was silence for a few seconds—fifteen, if she counted correctly—and she held the canteen out to him in an offering of some sort. "This…will help."

This time there was a more immediate grunt when she sat it down in the sand between them and looked up. He wasn't looking at her but at her little gift, staring while water dripped from his mouth and chin and his collar stayed soaked. Nevertheless he picked it up, proceeding to fill it and then drink. This act was repeated a few times, each completed with the same hesitant coolness as the last, before he was apparently finished and tossed the thing back to her.

A thought suddenly occurred to her, and it wouldn't very well leave her. This boy was walking _without water_ through the desert. There wasn't another place to stop and get more for miles, from what she could tell.

As much as she wanted to just leave him to his own devices and let him fend for himself, it just seemed too harsh to _not_ offer to help him. After all, she knew firsthand how terrible it was to trek through the desert in the heat of the day, thirsty and tired. Hoping with everything she had that he wouldn't kill her for this, she said "I can…I can fix your canteen if you want."

He glared, and her muscles tensed again.

"That's only if you want, though! I just thought I'd help, I mean, you've got a long walk, wherever you're going and it's unhealthy to travel without water, not to mention you could dehydrate and get a stroke and—"

"Shut up," was all he said in a slightly annoyed reply, tossing _his_ canteen to her also.

She looked from his canteen, to his face, and then back again before he spoke once more. "If you're not going to fix it, then why did you offer in the first place?"

She blinked and nodded, pulling some bandages from her back-pouch, wrapping them swiftly around Gaara's canteen. If only with half a mind she noticed that it was extremely battered—scratches littered its surface, it felt hot like it had been set out in the sun for hours, and the texture of it was rough like stone.

Stone. Kakashi.

Sasuke. Sunburn.

Inner Sakura was apparently too…well…_dead_ to make a snippy comment at this.

When she was satisfied, she stood, handing the thing to Gaara.

And surprisingly, he took it from her hand. His fingers didn't brush against hers, though, and it wasn't softly, either. It was harsh and quick, like if she touched him he would spontaneously combust.

A nod, and then he turned to look out towards some point in the far north.

"It won't last long," she choked. "The job I did, I mean. You should replace it or get it mended right as soon as you can."

He scoffed and stooped momentarily to refill his canteen before replacing it to its original spot at his belt. She was about to look away. Really, she was. But the hand he outstretched to her expelled any thoughts of _that_.

She couldn't help the stutter in her voice. "W—wha…?"

The hand twitched as he spoke to her in a slow mutter. "I'm showing my appreciation." Another twitch, and it became minutely clear to Sakura that he possibly could have been…uncomfortable enough with the situation to denounce enunciation. She waited for him to clarify, which he did. "I'm _thanking_ you."

She still didn't respond, and when about ten more seconds passed—because Sakura _was_, with all seriousness, counting the time—his hand clenched and then withdrew.

His expression hardened. "Fine. I never asked you to accept." He was about to turn and walk away, but she stopped him with what was intended to be the beginning of a sentence.

"I—I mean… Yes, I accept. I was just surprised."

He shifted his weight a little, but otherwise showed no outward change in expression.

That's when she offered him _her_ hand.

His gaze—or maybe glare; she wasn't too sure—shifted from her hand, to her eyes, and then back again, much like hers had with him and his canteen. Finally, he took her hand and shook it. His held the same feel as his canteen—weathered, heated, and coarse. The handshake lasted less than two seconds, with him firmly shaking hers and then releasing it, continuing along his way to the north. She could feel it even when he was a mere speck among the sizzling landscape.

Inner Sakura decided to wake up at that moment, and kicked her to hurry the hell up: Kakashi and the others were surely worried by now. So she headed back, unable to bring herself to look over her shoulder for a giant gourd strapped to a boy with a mop of messy red hair and an uncaring gait.

When she arrived at the rock, she found Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and even the whiny man Kenji playing an intense game of rock-paper-scissors. Naruto, it seemed, was in the lead. She tossed the canteens to their respective owners, sighed, and plopped down, leaning against the rock. Whether or not she should tell her teammates, she didn't know. Would they check her all over for wounds? Demand that she tell them _every _little detail about the encounter?

Sighing, she decided that retelling the meeting with Gaara of the Desert wasn't something she was up for at the moment. She listened to the sounds of Kakashi and Sasuke arguing lightly about the copy ninja's potential "cheating ways", feeling relaxed by their familiar voices, when Naruto's voice rang out shrill and clear.

"Hey, Sakura! These canteens are empty!"


	2. Chapter Two

**Knee Deep in Sand**

**Chapter Two**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Japanese food definitions courtesy Japan-Guide(dot)com; beta-ed by wingedrivers in the livejournal community NarutoBetas.

A/N: So I wasn't going to make a chapter two, but dammit, after seeing all the requests and story alerts I was getting, I couldn't help it. I'm pretty sure this is the last chapter, but then again…I said that about chapter one, too, so…we'll just see how it goes.

Also, I am not, I repeat, _not_ a Japanese culture guru, nor am I anything _near_ it, so I had to go on a website to look up some popular Japanese foods. Definitions are below.

_**Gyoza:** Japanese-style dumplings._

_**Korokke:** Japanese croquettes. _

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There was a word for this kind of torment—that much Sakura knew. Sand in her hair, sand in her shirt, sand in her sandals, in her pants, in her mouth, in her pouches, sand _everywhere!_

What was it—Sand Torture? That had to be it. This was why nobody ever talked about going to Sunagakure for a leisurely visit—why no one ever came back from the village with a smile on their face and a bounce in their step. It was because of all the _damned sand!_

It was only dusk, but the Village Hidden in the Sand was as hot as ever. A few crude lamps lined the market streets, illuminating whatever they could. Most vendors had brought their own sources of light, though, and were desperately attempting to attract customers with fancy displays that belied their otherwise faulty and degenerate products.

Sighing, she fingered a trinket on a little stand in front of her. It looked like some kind of ceramic doll, maybe a collectable from an expensive line of dolls? Before her thoughts could get carried away with how the people in Suna were generally the same as the people in Konoha, a voice stopped her.

"You going to buy it or just stare at it?"

She looked up to see a burly man wearing overlapping, layered black clothing staring at her. "Uh…no, just looking."

He huffed and turned away.

Yes, this place was definitely not a place she'd like to visit again.

A tuft of yellow hair in the otherwise dull, brown and black-haired crowd of people caught her attention, and she waved Naruto down. The boy strolled over to her, hands in his pockets. "Hey, Sakura. Having fun?"

She supposed that was sarcasm. "About as much fun as I _can_ have. Are we finished yet?"

He shook his head, leading her over to a spot in the shade of the painfully slow-setting sun. It was an outcropping of a building, and two crates were provided for them to sit on. "No, I talked to Kakashi. He says we might have to stay overnight. Maybe even longer."

"_Longer_ than a night? Ugh, I don't think I could handle that." She let her head droop and wiped some sweat from her brow. For a few seconds the two teammates sat in silence, mourning their imminent premature deaths by suffocation of the heat, and trying to find a way—_any_ way—to talk Kakashi out of staying for a night. Finally, Sakura sat up straight, taking in a deep breath of the dry air. "I guess we'll just have to make the best of this, right?"

Naruto nodded, smiling in his own little goofy way. "Right!" He turned around and pointed to a food stand off in the distance. "I checked these guys out and they sell some pretty good stuff! Do you want to have dinner with me?"

For a second she had been prepared to hit him on the head for asking her out on a date in such an inappropriate time and place, but then she realized that he _wasn't,_ in fact, asking her out. He was merely asking if she wanted to wallow in self-pity with him over a nice plate of whatever Sand had to offer. She grunted a half-laugh and rubbed the back of her neck, feeling it sticky with sweat. After a while she smiled at Naruto weakly. "Sure."

His grin widened, revealing his too-sharp-to-be-normal canine teeth. But then again, Naruto was _far_ from normal by anyone's standards. She stood up and walked with him across the marketplace, his hands shoved in his pockets and hers swaying by her sides. "Oh, by the way," he began, eyes squinted in his trademark "I'm being casual" look, "have you seen Sasuke? He split up with us when we got here, and I haven't seen him anywhere since."

She nodded. "I saw him a little while ago filling up his canteen at a water station, but I didn't talk to him because he looked angry about something." It was as much of a question as it was a statement, and she looked at Naruto expectantly.

He just shrugged, though. "Who knows? The weather here sucks, so I guess I could understand if he was mad about it."

They reached the food shop, which actually turned out to just be a sort of odd-ended concession stand, and approached the man serving. He waved at them happily and motioned to wait just a minute as he finished cooking whatever it was that he was cooking on the stove. Smoke billowed from a pipe in the roof, floating up into the darkening sky where it slowly dissipated among the stars that were already visible.

"Naruto, look," Sakura said, pointing upwards. "Does it seem like there's more stars out here for some reason?"

He looked up. "Yeah, it does. But I think Sand doesn't have as many lights as Leaf," he mused, attracted to the abundance of stars, but not captivated entirely. He was currently salivating over the smell of food drifting so close by, anyway.

Finally the man was finished, and the sound of a plate clinking on the wooden bar top made both Naruto and Sakura stop staring at whatever had interested them. A woman approached the bar and took the plate, and for the first time the two Team Seven members noticed that it was just simple gyoza.

The cook smiled at them. "Sorry about the wait. What will you two take?"

"Ramen!" Naruto instantly declared, grinning. It faded, though, when the man shook his head.

"I don't serve ramen here, sorry. Anything else?"

"I'll go for some meat and potato korroke," Sakura chimed.

"Great! And you, little blond boy?"

Naruto pouted, but ordered the same thing as Sakura. The two, after being informed of the fifteen-minute wait, ambled to a nearby bench and took their seats. "So…" the orange-clad ninja said, swinging his feet back and forth. "After this, we should go check with Kakashi."

She agreed, nodding her head to show this fact. In time, she heard the telltale sound of plates being slapped against wood, and she and Naruto rose to collect their food. It wasn't fancifully prepared, but it didn't look too rudimentary, either. On the contrary—it seemed simple yet delicious. They took their food and returned to their benches, eating in silence.

After Sakura's second bite of the first fat dumpling, she noticed a figure in the crowd ahead of her that looked awfully familiar. The gourd probably gave it away the most who _exactly_ it was. She watched him as he weaved through the crowds—though he more of just walked in a straight line as people stepped out of his way—and as he pulled the canteen from his belt. She blinked when she saw the bandages still hanging limply on it. Why hadn't the dope replaced it?

"Naruto," she said, setting her plate down. "I'll be right back, okay?"

He looked up at her and cocked his head to the side, unable to speak through the mouthful of dumpling he was chewing.

"I…I think I saw Sasuke. I'm going to go get him and bring him over here, so you just wait here." She lied and lied _pathetically._ But nonetheless Naruto was instantly impartial to her declare and nodded, focusing once more on his food.

She walked with an important air over to Gaara. But the closer she got to the glare-prone boy, the more her gait was reduced to meek tip-toeing. Finally, she was close enough to speak to him audibly. She folded her hands behind her back, smiling gently—cautiously.

He didn't look up, but kept digging in his pockets as he stood in the middle of the street, obviously looking for something.

They stood like that for a while, Gaara searching through his jangling pockets and Sakura rocking back and forth on her heels, arms crossed behind her, until she couldn't take the silence anymore. Her Meat and Potato Korroke was probably cold by now, and Naruto…well, as long as Naruto had food, he wouldn't argue. But his supply was surely running low. Awkwardly, she began to speak. "Uh…hello. Do you remember me?"

The only change in his expression was when he blinked, and even then he didn't even acknowledge her.

Inner Sakura snorted and balled her fists, shouting for Gaara to stop being a brat and listen to what she had to say, while Sakura just frowned a little. "I guess you don't. Well, I'm Haruno Sakura—I fixed your canteen for you." He still didn't look at her, and then she began to outwardly grow a little annoyed. "Do you remember _now?"_

An inaudible mutter slipped past his lips, and she had to strain her ears to try and see if he would say anything else. When he didn't, she said, "What was that? Sorry, I didn't hear you."

He finally looked up at her at that moment, and it felt as though an immensely thick fog had been lifted from the air. He stared at her for a while, his hands still in the process of finding whatever it was he was looking for, but then he just continued his mission, saying "I wasn't talking to you," in a flat tone.

"Oh," was all she could manage to reply.

At last he pulled something out of his pocket, and she realized he had retrieved a money pouch.

Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but she heard a grunt at the same time some massive force slammed into her from the side and knocked her down. She fell to the sand-covered walkway on her knees, skinning them in the process, and gave a half-groan, half-whine. She looked up just in time, though, fists raised, to see a burly man walk away mumbling a short apology. And then she looked over, once again just in time, to see the fleeting beginnings of amusement lightly decorate Gaara's dark-rimmed eyes and face. Quickly, she tried to right herself, a blush scattering across her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose. "What a rude person," she said as she stood, brushing the sand from her knees and such. When she brought her hands from the wounds, blood covered them, and she scowled at them. "It looks like I'm bleeding a little."

"So it would appear," he said, staring also at her hands. If Sakura didn't know any better she'd say he was losing it maybe, but the fact was that she _did_ know better. Gaara may have been a bloodthirsty, insane little horror, but he had more of a grip on his self-control than _that. _She highly doubted someone as aloof and haughty as him would lose his cool over something like a few drops of blood on her hands. So instead, she started a new conversation, trying to rid herself of her embarrassment. "Were you going to use the money to replace that canteen?"

He didn't answer her but walked forth, to a little store that sat almost unnoticed in a building shrouded with the smaller vendors' false promises of quality products. The sign above the open door read "Kenji's Canteens" in bright red letters.

Absently, Sakura noticed that the name sounded familiar, and she followed Gaara as he walked inside the shop, setting off a small bell as they passed through the doorway. The place was small, cramped, and filled to the brim with various shapes, sizes, and colors of containers. There were flasks, large plastic barrels, bottles, and thermoses, among other things.

Gaara marched straight to the man at the front desk, and Sakura was startled to see that it was the man who she had escorted from Konohagakure to Sunagakure. He looked at her and seemed just as surprised.

He laughed. "Why, hello!" His voice was different than what she remembered it, and the bag that he had once carried slung over his shoulder lay dormant and empty in a corner. "We meet again! I can see you've found my little shop."

She nodded, though kept her distance from both the man and Gaara.

Kenji looked from Gaara to Sakura before apparently making a connection. "Is this your friend, Sakura? Or maybe your _boy_friend?" He laughed at his own joke, sounding much like an old man though he didn't look a day past forty. "You make quite the odd pair!"

Sakura threw up her hands in defense. "No! No, that's not the situation at all! I was just…kind of…"

"She was following me," Gaara said in that monotonous way he spoke, finishing her stuttered sentence. His eyes were closed as he set the bandaged canteen on the counter before the man. "I'd appreciate it if you could get me a new one."

Kenji bent down for a second before reappearing with the exact same canteen, only newer and unbroken. "There you go!"

Gaara handed over the money as Kenji threw away the old one into the back, muttering something about discount prices. After he was finished doing that, he beamed once more at Sakura.

Sakura blinked and took a small step back. "What is it?"

"I just wanted to thank you for escorting me and all those water containers I had to carry! Surely I would've been attacked and robbed had not a team of ninjas from Leaf been accompanying me!"

Sakura raised a brow. "But you were just carrying canteens. I don't think anyone would attack you to get something like _that."_

But Kenji just waved her off as Gaara left the shop, holding the new canteen in one hand as he shoved the pouch of money into one of his pockets. And Sakura followed after him, waving goodbye to the man.

When they stepped outside into the street, Gaara stopped suddenly, causing her to almost knock into his back. He stayed stock-still like that for a while, facing away from her, until the hand holding the canteen clenched suddenly. "Why are you following me?" he asked, slightly turning his head so that he could glance at her from his peripheral vision.

She swallowed at this. She hadn't really thought about it… She had just started to go after him, determined to talk to him, and it had all led to this. In a horrifying moment of realization, she gasped, clasped her hands to her head and whispered "Naruto!" loudly.

Gaara narrowed his eyes at this, blinking as he did so. "Naru—?"

"Oh, no! I completely forgot about Naruto and Sasuke and…Kakashi!" She released her head and began looking around frantically, searching for her teacher and teammates in the ever-thickening crowd.

The red-haired boy began to walk away, his gourd moving in time with his body as he left her panicking to herself.

Finally, she managed to hear someone calling out her name, and she turned towards the source of it. She recognized Naruto's blond hair as he bounced through the flood of people, as well as Kakashi's tall, lean form and Sasuke's dark outfit—hands in his pockets as he walked with the two. "Sakura!" Naruto called again, making eye contact with her. He finally parted through everyone and appeared before her, holding a doggie bag out to her. "You didn't come back so I had your food boxed." He continued on as Sakura took her food, "It's kind of cold, though… You sure took a long time! And hey, what happened to your knees?"

"I tripped and fell," she quickly replied.

"Where did you go?" Kakashi asked, placing his book into his chest pocket as he spoke.

Sakura glanced between the three of them—Naruto's bright smile, Kakashi's dubious eyes, and Sasuke's indifferent, yet slightly curious stare. "Uh…" she began, trying to quickly formulate some grand lie in her head. "I…got lost!" She laughed nervously, shrugging.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, balling a fist in Sasuke's direction. "She got lost looking for _you!_ You don't have to be such a jerk about it!"

Sasuke replied with a "whatever" and a snort, which inevitably sent both he and Naruto into a small spat. As Naruto and Sasuke argued, Kakashi turned to Sakura, smirking behind his mask. "Did you have fun getting lost?" he asked.

"No!" she lied again. It was actually quite entertaining to follow Gaara around for a little while. "I was knocked down by someone, I couldn't see past all these stupid stands, and I didn't get to finish my dinner." She was getting a little better at lying, at least.

Kakashi just stared at her for a moment before pulling apart Naruto and Sasuke. "Alright, you three. We're staying here in Sunagakure for the night, and then we'll set out for Konoha early tomorrow morning, so get your rest everyone." He looked once more at Sakura. "And get your knees cleaned up once we get to the inn, Sakura."

Naruto, forgetting at once his fight with Sasuke, groaned loud. "I don't want to stay here! It's too damn _hot!"_

"Stop whining, Naruto," Sakura said, pulling at her collar.

Sasuke merely huffed and crossed his arms as Kakashi led them all to a nearby inn, passing by the colorful vendors, tiny little shops, and numerous crowds of busily chatting people.

Even at night, Sand was alive, but this didn't come as much of a surprise to Sakura. After all, the heat of the day was far too much for _anyone_ to bear, so it only made sense that the citizens would become the most active when it was coolest. She glanced up once more at the sky, smiling at the stars that twinkled despite everything that was so very, _very_ wrong with the world.

She put her hands behind her head as she walked. "Yeah," she whispered, agreeing with herself and making sure none of the others could hear her. Then, quite suddenly, a smile spread across the sun-burnt, heated features of her face. "It's really not so bad, anyway."


	3. Chapter Three

**Knee Deep in Sand**

**Chapter Three**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Sucked into is what I am, happy about it is what I'm not. I have about fifteen stories ongoing, and this is the last thing I needed: another obsession. _But!_ Thank you for all your support, and I will _definitely_ finish this for all of you!

Also, I was never very good with memorizing the Hokages/Kazekages/etc., so I didn't name who the Kazekage or Hokage were. Hooray for side-stepping!

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It certainly hadn't been a coincidence that her team had found out about her and Gaara's little "meeting," if one could even call it that.

Sakura sighed and slumped in her chair, the scolding sounds of her teammates now droning on and almost becoming repetitive. Kakashi had questioned her as soon as they had arrived at the inn, drawing important pieces from her answers and making her unconsciously slip bits of information out occasionally that she didn't want anyone to know. Then again, Kakashi was a cunning, conniving, manipulative bastard if she'd ever seen one, and she probably should've foreseen it all coming.

And come it had, like a wave of unexpected horror all washing over her in one moment of climactic realization: she had mentioned Gaara. Frustratingly and angrily, she remembered just _how_ Kakashi had managed to wriggle it out of her. "Where did you visit?" Kakashi had asked. "You've never been to Sand."

"I know," she had replied, absently fiddling with her headband straps. "I saw Kenji's shop."

Kakashi's eyes had taken on a new sort of twinkle, one that made her raise an eyebrow in question. "Kenji—the man we escorted here? How did you find it?" he continued, unfettered with her wary expression.

"I just stumbled upon it, okay?" Agitation plagued her voice. "Besides, I only waved to him through the doorway. I never went in."

"He doesn't just sell canteens, you know. He sells other things in that shop."

By then, both Naruto and Sasuke were watching her and Kakashi inwardly bicker and outwardly converse.

"Yes, Kakashi, I _know _that."

"Oh? How do you know if you never went inside? He doesn't display his other contents on the shop windows—"

"_Dammit, _I saw Gaara buy a canteen and caught a glimpse of all the other stuff!" At first she had been annoyed beyond belief, temporarily letting her inner, more _instinctive _side take over, but when she had realized what she said, a hand had clamped over her mouth.

At this Kakashi had smirked behind his mask triumphantly, Naruto had gasped, and Sasuke had blinked in shock, his eyes sharpening with interest.

And that was the fateful conversation that brought her where she was currently trying to disappear into the chair, eyes downcast as she attempted to ignore her friends' lectures. Even Sasuke, the ever-indifferent _Sasuke, _had joined in on making her feel like a total idiot for seeing Gaara. It wasn't like she had planned it, anyway.

"_Listen_ to us, Sakura," Sasuke hissed, staring straight through her, it seemed. "Don't just block us out. Gaara is dangerous. What would make you want to talk to him, let alone follow him around all day?"

"All day? I was only with him for about a half an hour!" she shouted lamely in her protest, only to be shot down by Naruto's shrill voice in her ear.

"You lied to me! You told me you saw Sasuke and was going to bring him back!" He crossed his arms and turned away, harrumphing. "I waited for so long after I finished eating, and I even had to restrain myself from eating your portion, too."

Kakashi had since migrated over to a loveseat, and he lounged on it lazily, holding his perverted book over his face, though he kept his eyes on her. "The point we're all trying to make is that you shouldn't dive head-first into things. You know how Gaara of the Sand is. He could snap you in half with just a fleeting thought."

She snorted to herself and straightened her back, shifting her eyes from her comrades. "He didn't seem like it when _I _talked to him."

"Looks can be deceiving," Sasuke coolly added, apparently done with reprimanding her. "One thing to make him angry and he could've turned around and killed you right on the spot."

She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them, pouting.

"Well," Kakashi said, standing up and replacing the book to its spot in his vest. "We're leaving early tomorrow, so it's time for sleep." He moved towards the exit, Sasuke behind him, before he stopped in the doorway and looked back at her slouched, sighing form. "Oh, and Sakura? If I find any sand in your bed you're in big trouble."

He laughed as Sakura tossed a pillow at his head, watching as it hit his mark. Sasuke just shook his head and followed out.

She hadn't noticed the one presence in the room that stayed in the corner, so she stood up and stretched, shutting her eyes tight. When she was finished, she mumbled, "For my sake, I really hope sand _doesn't _end up in my bed." She turned to possibly try and stomach her cold food, but spotted Naruto standing there, arms over his chest. "Naruto?"

The scowl on his face loosened into a weak frown, and his arms dropped. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

He turned his head to the ground when a faint sort of red tint stained it. "You do things that make us worry."

"Naruto…"

He looked up at her, probably expecting a sad, sympathetic look, but stuttered a little when she displayed a face of light anger. "Sakura?"

Sakura clenched her fists and frowned. "Do you really think I'm that weak?"

"No, that's not—!"

She slapped a hand to her chest for emphasis. "Every time I go out somewhere on my own, does it tear you up?"

"Yes!"

"Because you think I'm not strong, right?"

"No!" Naruto growled in frustration and leapt forwards, grabbing her by her upper arms. Blue eyes bore into green ones, and Sakura was shocked into holding still. "You make us worry, Sakura—you make us _all_ worry." The grip he had on her arms slipped a little, but he didn't let go. "You're a girl, so for Sasuke, Kakashi, and I to worry is normal, I think."

Sakura once again found her composure and she ripped away from Naruto.

He blinked for a moment before cursing himself. "That's not what I meant… I mean, you're not any _less _because you're a girl! You're just…not _as _strong. You're really strong, though!"

She backed up into her bed and leaned against the footboard. "Not as strong as one of the guys…"

He diverted his gaze from her to the floor once more and put his hands gently into his pockets. "I'm sorry, but…I wanted to tell you how much I—we _all_—worry about you." He scuffed the ground with the toe of his sandal. "Since the incident with Orochimaru and Sasuke, I can't stop wanting to protect and help you."

"You're not going to help me by telling me I'm weaker than you."

He stared at her, mouth agape, before pulling his hands out of his pockets to scratch at the back of his neck. For the second time that day, silence engulfed them, and he waited a while before speaking again. When he did, he changed the subject and indicated that he was leaving her for the night. "Your food is on the table… It's cold by now, but it's still good." He motioned to the doggie bag on the nightstand. "I'm going to bed now, okay?"

She nodded and listened to him mutter "good night," but didn't respond. When he was out the door, she fell back onto the bed and rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her palms.

- - -

Morning came swiftly and without notice, and it leaked into Sakura's curtain-less window to jar her awake. The room had heated up by only the morning light, and her blankets now felt like heavy strips of _hell. _She kicked them off and sat up, groaning and mussing her hair.

Shortly after she had gotten up, used the restroom, and fixed herself properly, a knock followed by Kakashi's voice made her jump. "When you're finished meet us in front of the inn," he said, and then his footsteps signaled that he had left.

Hair combed and cleaned up for the day, Sakura left, meeting Kakashi and the others outside as promised. She stopped and stood near Sasuke, dumping the old leftover contents of her lukewarm canteen water as she did so. "When are we leaving, Kakashi?"

Her teacher dumped out his canteen, too, and the other two followed his lead. "As soon as we refill our canteens."

"It's so _early_…" Naruto mumbled, screwing the cap back on his canteen. "I don't think I've ever woken up this early in my life."

"Early?" Sakura questioned. "It's probably about eight o'clock right now; it's so hot."

"It's actually five forty-five," Sasuke said. "The sun rises unnaturally early in Sunagakure and sets unnaturally late, too."

"Right," Kakashi said. "They have plenty of daylight here."

Sakura scanned the streets, noticing that only one or two people roamed the streets. These people were either officials from the city or elderly men and women, and she mentally reminded herself that most inhabitants of Sand weren't active until the sun set or had yet to rise—whichever way one could look at it.

"We'll head out in fifteen minutes," Kakashi said, slowly making his way away from the small group. "Fill up your canteens, grab some breakfast, and then meet me at the front gates."

Sasuke was the second to leave the group, and he went straight towards a water station. When the dark-haired boy was out of sight, Naruto turned to Sakura and fidgeted nervously.

"Sorry…" he finally managed to say, not looking at her. "About last night, I mean. But I just wanted—" Before he could finish, Sakura had put a soft hand on his shoulder.

She smiled. "It's alright. I…I probably shouldn't have been so harsh, but Kakashi made me stressed."

Naruto nodded and grinned. "Hey, did you ever get around to eating your dinner last night?"

As if on cue, her stomach growled.

The blond boy laughed and grabbed her wrist, leading her towards the heart of the marketplace. "Let's have breakfast together!"

She was about to refuse, she really was, but somehow she felt that having breakfast this morning with a friend didn't sound so bad. After all, she needed some amiable human interaction after being scolded to hell and beyond for seeing a maniacal little demon boy.

Naruto stopped at a different stand from last night, shouting a "Yes!" into the air when the outside menu displayed that they _did_ carry ramen. "Sakura, what do you want to eat?"

She shrugged. "I guess…" she smiled and shook her head. "Ramen sounds fine."

Naruto, going into determined mode, pounded the counter with his palms. "Come on! Bring it on!" He laughed to himself and grinned wide, closing his eyes tight.

Sakura just sighed and leaned against the side of the stand.

- - -

Fifteen minutes passed quickly, as Sakura and Naruto soon learned, and they both appeared at the front gates right on time.

"I can _not_ believe this," Sakura said, scowling and rubbing her temples. "He does this every time! Even on an important mission like this, he's running _late!"_

"He's dead when he gets here!" Naruto shouted, throwing a fist into the air.

Sasuke just growled under his breath, looking out at the desert horizon beyond the gates. "If we don't leave soon," he commented, "It'll be too late to set out. We can't travel fast or efficiently in this heat."

Sakura agreed. "Besides, I don't want to get more sunburned than I already am."

"Being sunburned shouldn't be your number one concern," Sasuke replied, not taking his eyes off of the desolate landscape. "Worse things could happen. Heatstroke, fainting, being attacked by rogue ninja and being too weak from the—"

"You talk too much."

Kakashi's voice made everyone jump, including Sasuke. "Miss me?" he asked with a calm sort of tone.

"Kakashi!" Sakura wailed. "Now it'll be too hot for us to leave!"

"I spoke with the Kazekage, and it looks like we're not going to be alone on our trip."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, trying to regain what had once been his cool, apathetic exterior.

"I'm talking about Gaara," Kakashi went on. "The Kazekage needs a letter to be sent to the Hokage, but he doesn't trust just _us_ to deliver it."

"Why not?" Naruto complained. "We're trustworthy enough, aren't we?"

Kakashi sighed. "No, believe it or not, you're _not._ You have no prestige, and though this letter was a split-second decision, it's still important. Since we're the only Leaf ninja available at such short notice…"

"Why Gaara?" Sakura asked? In all aspects, she sincerely did _not_ want Gaara to tag along. She was still slightly afraid of him, she didn't want to face him after the events of the night before, and she absolutely _knew_ Naruto would do something stupid in his presence.

"Because nobody wants me here."

All but Kakashi turned to the source of the voice—a boy with red hair and a dark glare approaching them from the left.

"They rid themselves of me every chance they get," Gaara continued, folding his arms. "This was an opportune time to get me out of their hair."

"Are you a troublemaker?" Kakashi questioned good-spiritedly. Gaara just ignored him, though, and walked up to Sakura.

Sakura swallowed, and Naruto tensed behind her, ready to attack if need be.

The Sand boy's arm was outstretched in an instant, and she flinched, shutting her eyes. When she opened them, she found her bandages folded in his palm. He shoved them towards her. "These are yours."

She took them gently, unbelieving of how he was acting. "Um…thank you?"

He nodded before turning to Kakashi, completely disregarding the other teammates. The Copy Ninja towered over him in his lithe, tall form, but Gaara didn't seem fazed. "We leave now."

Amusement showed brightly in Kakashi's eyes, and he nodded. "Would you also like to lead the way, or would you leave that to me?"

Gaara just scoffed and walked forwards.

Kakashi turned to Sakura, or more specifically the bandages she was quickly stuffing into her pouch. "Sakura?"

She groaned softly. "Yes, Kakashi?"

"You didn't tell us the _whole_ story, did you?"

"No."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and went forth, his three students following behind him. "Well, you might as well start now."

"Yes, Kakashi."


	4. Chapter Four

**Knee Deep in Sand**

**Chapter Four**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: has fallen into a habit of utterly and completely _devouring _my words, so if you catch any big mistakes (I.E. chunks of paragraphs missing, etc.), please inform me so I can fix it before I come off as _too_ much of a jackass.

Aside from that, I've decided what to do with this story. I was originally going to make it really long, spanning from pre-time-skip to post-time-skip, but then I figured…what good would that do? It would just give me more migraines to deal with. So I've decided to make this particularly short, probably ending with the next chapter, and create a sequel (if you want to call it that) soon afterwards.

Thank you for your continued support, and by next chapter I'll surely have the title of the new story and such figured out. Although, a fair warning in advance: the other fic _will not_ be updated quite as quickly as this one was.

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Sakura quickly came to the conclusion that talking to the sand would be much more entertaining than talking to Gaara. At least she could _pretend _the sand was speaking back to her. But for her to try to actual speak to this red-haired, bad-tempered boy was absolutely futile.

They had been traveling for hours, now, and every attempt at conversation _anyone_ initiated with Gaara would crumble and fall to a defeated pile of pathetic words. The boy was too damned egotistical to acknowledge anyone and too damned stubborn to admit that he was just as bored as the rest of them.

"I don't know how he does it," Naruto whispered, putting a hand up to conceal him and Sakura's exchange. "You think maybe he's gone deaf from all the years of living out in this desert heat?"

Sakura scoffed. "I doubt it. I think he just hears us when he _wants _to."

Naruto squinted at the desert boy walking a few feet in front of them. "Isn't there some sort of technical name for that?"

"Yeah. It's called _arrogance."_ She had meant to be sarcastic and biting, but she heard Naruto scoff beside her.

"Then I think Sasuke's got the same problem," he snickered.

Sakura just chuckled slightly at this, mainly because it was true. Gaara and Sasuke were a lot alike, demon-bearing aside, and given the chance they could probably get along quite well.

_Either that or they could rip each other's throats out, _Inner Sakura corrected.

Déjà-vu overwhelmed the members of Team Seven when the outcropping of a particularly large rock came into view. Kakashi smiled to himself. "It's too hot to continue as we are, so let's stop here until it gets cooler."

Surprisingly, Gaara complied and sat beneath the shade and away from the rest of them, closing his eyes.

Kakashi took out his canteen and laughed, shoving it towards Sakura. "Do the honors?"

"Oh, no," Sakura said, wagging her finger at him. "I'm not about to fill up _your _canteens again!"

Her teacher set the canteen down and folded his arms behind his head, leaning against the rock. "Rock-paper-scissor _again,_ Sakura? I never knew you were so determined." He laughed. "You do know that you'll have to play against _Gaara_ this time, too?"

She cringed and snatched the canteen from the ground, hissing _"Fine." _She continued to collect Naruto and Sasuke's too, before stopping near Gaara.

He was just sitting there, legs folded beneath him, scowl tainting his face, and his eyes closed to create two dark patches of black where vibrant, harsh aquamarine had once been.

She coughed into her one free hand, and Gaara opened his eyes to look up at her. She smiled weakly. "Sleeping?"

His glare hardened and his eyes fixed themselves upon hers sharply. "Are you mocking me?"

She blinked before realizing what she had said, and then shook her head vehemently. "No! I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, and I…I forgot that you…you—"

"What do you want?" he asked.

She swallowed and showed him the canteens she held in her hands. "Did…you want me to fill yours up, too?"

Gaara didn't look away for a second, just kept boring through her with those intense eyes, before he shook his head and stood. "I don't trust you."

A little part of Sakura wanted to whack him upside the head like she did to Naruto, but she restrained herself from doing so. "What, do you think I'll poison your water or something?"

He was standing in front of her now, his newly bought canteen in one hand. He was looking at some point over her shoulder, though this didn't register in Sakura's mind and she instead focused on other aspects of the boy, like his height. Honestly, she had expected the feared Gaara of the Desert to be at least _somewhat _taller than her. But he barely matched her own height, in fact, and she almost laughed at the thought. Inner Sakura was already rolling on the ground with all the snippy comments that could resurface from his obvious "challenge."

Finally, Sakura noticed that Gaara was staring at something just beyond her, and she turned to see Naruto watching their short meeting with curious, vibrant blue eyes. "Sakura…? Is everything alright?" He glanced accusingly to Gaara.

Sakura nodded quickly. "Yes, I was just asking Gaara for his canteen, but…" she smiled. "He doesn't _trust_ me." The words came out like they were stuck in her throat, and she heard Gaara scoff somewhere behind her.

Naruto looked from her to Gaara, and then back again before switching into "laid-back Naruto" and taking his canteen from Sakura. "I'll go with you to the oasis. I need to wash my face, anyway."

The three of them walked to the oasis, past a sighing teammate and a napping teacher, and Sakura faked a gasp. _"Naruto?_ Washing his _face?"_

Naruto laughed and playfully poked her side. "I wouldn't be talking, Miss Sunburn."

Sakura just pouted and softly slapped his head, laughing along with him. She was about to speak, but the only Sand-nin among them spoke. This time, though, his tone was far from flat or agitated. He sounded almost curious.

"Why do you do that?"

Sakura stopped walking at his words that were so like Naruto's from the night before. "Wh…what?" She asked softly, turning to face Gaara.

Gaara's face was twisted into one of pure confusion, and he unintentionally glared a hole through Sakura. "Naruto is your friend, isn't he?"

She nodded. "Of course Naruto is my—"

"Then why do you abuse him?"

Naruto was thrown into a vicious fit of laughter at Gaara's words, and he paid no heed to the flaring of Gaara's temper.

Sakura saw something much different on his face, though. It was almost as if the boy was…embarrassed. His brows were furrowed and he was scowling at the both of them, his arms crossed. "Gaara," she started, smiling and laughing slightly despite her best efforts. "We're joking with each other. That's what friends do."

"You're teasing him and hitting him," Gaara assessed, drawing back from the approaching pink-haired girl.

She shook her head. "But it's only in a friendly way!" She reached over and shoved Naruto a little as an example. Naruto just laughed harder. "See?"

The line on Gaara's forehead deepened and he gave her a sort of sideways look. "So if I hit you, it would be considered…_friendly?" _He outstretched a clenched fist, watching as Sakura blinked and tensed.

"N…no, Gaara, that's not quite the right concept!" She chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "For you to hit me and consider it friendly, you would have to…" she struggled with the right words, then finally settled on the most primitive voicing, "…not hurt me."

He still looked utterly confused, so she took a step towards him, feeling satisfied when he didn't pull away from her this time. She timidly raised a spread hand, motioning towards his shoulder. With a cautious look, she said gently, "May I?"

He shifted his gaze from her hand, to her face, to the near-hysterical blond kid behind her before nodding tersely. Even so, he watched her every movement—every flinch her body made—until her fingertips connected firmly yet lightheartedly with the front of his shoulder. She pushed him a little, smiling carefully.

She drew back quickly, though, still wearing that smile. "S…see? That would be a _friendly_ hit."

He stared at the spot on his shoulder where she had touched him, aware now that Naruto had stopped rolling on the floor with side-splitting laughter and was now watching the both of them with an alarmingly calculating pair of azure eyes. When he looked back to Sakura, her body was still as rigid as ever. He made the same movement she had earlier, stretching two fingers towards her. "May I?" he asked, all looks of security disappearing from his otherwise stoic visage.

She nodded, and felt a slight shift in Naruto's chakra behind her. She mentally noted that sometimes Naruto was far, _far _too protective. Gaara's fingers ghosted her bare shoulder, as if he was testing the waters first, before he figuratively dived in head-first by shoving her back a few steps. The force of his "friendly" attack actually made her stumble a little, and she ended up tripping over the loose sand of the desert to land on her rump, the canteens attached to her waistband clanking together noisily in the process.

Naruto began laughing behind her again, this time cackling like a madman, and she felt two hands grab _both_ her shoulders this time and haul her up quickly to her feet. The owner of said hands looked desperately at her eyes, his dull jade ones meeting her own vivid green ones.

He opened his mouth to say something, but she just laughed along with Naruto and brushed herself off. She waved Gaara's imperceptibly apologetic expression off, though. "I think that may have been a little bit…_too_ hard for friends, Gaara."

He huffed and folded his arms.

Naruto appeared then, clapping his hand on Sakura's already bruised shoulder. "I guess he just doesn't know his own strength!" He shot a goofy, closed-eyes grin at Gaara and laughed between his teeth.

Sakura shook the boy off and began to head once more towards the little oasis. "We should hurry up. Kakashi is going to be mad if we take too long."

Naruto agreed and fell in step with her, and Gaara ambled his way in front of the two, though not quite as far ahead as he had been.

- - -

The oasis proved to be not quite as blissful as it had once been as Sakura splashed some of the disgustingly warm water on her face. She shook the rogue droplets from herself and growled gently. "The last time I was here the water was much cooler."

"The last time you were here, it was closer to dusk," Gaara corrected her absently, refilling his canteen and setting it aside before sitting cross-legged before the pool of water.

Naruto was filling all the canteens for Sakura, and when he was finished with the job he, too, splashed himself with water. Growing agitated with the minimal relief from the heat it provided, he dunked his whole head into the water, uncaring that it would probably just give the sun ample reason to make his face turn redder than Sakura's. When he came up, sputtering for breath, he grinned contentedly. "That really hits the spot!"

Sakura laughed, being in a slightly better mood by Naruto's presence and the absence of Gaara's homicidal tendencies for the time being, and she glanced at the red-haired boy. He was looking at nothing, just staring blankly. He probably noticed her crawling over to him—in fact, she _knew _he noticed—but the only indication he gave of this was when the sand around them shifted slightly. She outstretched two fingers and shoved his shoulder slightly, making him go stiff and snap his gaze to her.

She smiled bashfully and rocked back on her heels. "Ah…sorry about that. But I couldn't resist."

He scowled at her. "That had better have been a 'friendly' hit." His icy tone belied the humor behind his words.

Sakura caught it, though, and she smiled. She heard Naruto rise from his spot seated in the sand, and she turned to him. "Ready?"

He nodded. "Yeah." He looked over to Gaara, who was once again staring at nothing. "Are you finished, Gaara?"

"I was finished a long time ago," Gaara replied, moving to stand. "Let's go." He bent down to pick up his canteen, took a drink, and then gave Sakura a hard glare for staring at him open-mouthed.

She tried to sputter some words, but none came.

"What?" he asked, bending down to refill the canteen once more. When she didn't answer, he glanced to the item in his hands, and instantly dropped it like it had burned him.

"G…Gaara? That…" she fished the canteen out of the water. "That was _my_ canteen."

Gaara sneered and spit into the sand. The look he threw at her was as venomous as he seemed to think her lips on the canteen had been. "What was in it?"

She shook her head and scooped up her canteen along with Sasuke and Kakashi's. "Nothing but water." As if to prove it to him, she brought the water-filled item to her lips, but paused. Inner Sakura screamed in protest. _Gaara's lips were on that! If you drink after him, that would be like _kissing _him!_

She blinked to dispel her inner self's wails of agony before taking a drink, herself. It didn't matter, anyway. After he had drunk out of it he had dropped it in the water, so it was cleansed.

Gaara still watched her incredulously, though. "If I feel anything…_anything," _he hissed, _"I will kill you."_

She stood up, suddenly feeling awfully vulnerable, and stood near Naruto, who was already ready for a battle, as always. He put a hand on Sakura's wrist and led her off, glaring for a moment at Gaara over his shoulder before he turned his line of vision to straight ahead of him. Sakura copied Naruto's actions, although she didn't _glare_ at the red-haired boy, before pulling her arm away from Naruto.

If only slightly, she thought she had seen a sort of distant look on Gaara's face as he had attached the canteen to his belt.


	5. Chapter Five

**Knee Deep in Sand**

**Chapter Five**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Last chapter, so don't expect more from _this_ particular story. Also, the sequel-type-thing **Weather Patterns **will be updated soon after this _for sure, _so be on the lookout for it. Thanks for all the support, everyone! Even if you don't review, I'm always delightfully pleased to see all of those who have this on their Favorites and Story Alerts lists.

By the way, a reviewer pointed out that s/he wasn't quite clear as to the plot or timeline of this. Well, it's pre-time-skip, and after the exams, of course, though that wasn't necessarily a main component of the story. The plot…basically, it revolves around the beginnings of what could very well be a relationship (whether romantic or not) between Gaara and _anyone, _though the members of Team Seven in particular. This was more about friendship and acceptance than romance. I figured if anyone were to accept Gaara for who he was, it'd be Sakura and/or the other members, and thus you have **Knee Deep in Sand.**

I apologize for a) the long author's note and b) any confusion that might have surfaced. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask—I won't bite your head off!

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The gates of Konoha had never looked so beautiful, and the members of Team Seven had never been so relieved to see them. Tired sandal-clad feet trudged ruefully through the forest, still shedding sand from their previous "adventures," all the while trying to ignore the nagging presence of Gaara just to the left of them.

True to nature the four of them had grouped together, Sakura being in the middle of an irate Naruto and a sighing Kakashi, whilst Sasuke did the best he could to huddle inconspicuously.

"Hey, Naruto?" Sakura asked suddenly as the gates to their beloved hidden village began to draw closer and closer, though still not as close as she would have wished.

"Yeah?" the blond boy answered, trying to keep a cheerful tone and failing miserably.

"You know when we were in the desert and I said I'd give anything for just _one_ rain cloud?"

"Yeah."

Thunder rumbled somewhere overhead through the sound of the rain, and she grimaced. "Well I take that back."

Kakashi managed to laugh, despite the circumstances. "It's been raining for two hours straight, none of us thought to bring warmer clothing, and my book is getting soggy. This is just wonderful."

"Stop complaining," Sasuke snapped.

He chuckled yet again. "Actually, I'm trying to get my mind off of the fact that I still need to report to the Hokage." He shot a glance to Gaara, who was staring straight ahead of him, arms crossed. "And you have to come, too, so don't think your suffering is over just yet."

Gaara just scoffed and shifted as he walked. "It doesn't bother me."

"Liar," Naruto whispered slyly. He looked to Sakura and grinned awkwardly. "Don't you agree?"

Sakura laughed, too, because she knew it was the only thing she _could_ do in a hopeless moment such as this. "I agree. Sasuke, do you agree?"

With a dragging groan, Sasuke grunted an "I agree." He glanced to Kakashi. "Kakashi?"

"I agree," Kakashi replied, smiling behind his mask.

In the course of a few seconds and at the fault of a mere statement, Team Seven began to laugh at their conditions, cursing the rain and yet playfully catching drops on their tongues as they did so. Even Sasuke, the ever anti-social one of the group, decided to join in, though with less zeal than his teammates.

And all Gaara did was stare at their antics, facial expression contorting into one of disbelief and annoyance. "Hey," he grunted. When none of them answered him above the dull roar of their attempts at fun and the downpour of precipitation, he scowled. "HEY! You're acting like children!"

Sakura heard him and turned to him, peeling herself away from splashing Naruto with a small puddle. She laughed and pushed back pink hair from her face, uncaring about displaying her forehead to him, and held out a sole hand. "Want in on it, Gaara?"

He shook his head slowly, sneering. "Never."

She grinned. "Oh, you know it's fun! Just come on! Let loose for once and forget about everything!"

"How can you stand there and say that with a straight face?" he questioned, clenching his fists. "You want me to forget? I _never_ forget! I—!" A stray splash of water soaked whatever was left dry on him, though, and he seethed.

Sakura whistled in feigned innocence and put her hands behind her back, rocking on her heels. When she didn't hear a response from Gaara, she glanced at him to see if perhaps he was going insane like in his preliminary match with Lee, only to be met with a face-full of mud. She sputtered and wiped the mud from her, hearing the distant, deep laughter of Gaara. When vision was once again granted to her, she stared at him. "I thought you didn't want to join in?"

He looked away from her, coughing to conceal his light laughter. "I'm not 'joining in,' I was just returning the favor."

"Oh, yeah?" She smirked devilishly and kicked more water at him. "Well return _this!_ It looks like your sand shield doesn't protect you from a little bit of water!"

He growled and shook his head vigorously to try and rid himself of the water, but to no avail. "My sand shield protects me from what it perceives as a threat, and _you_ are definitely not a threat." He made a deft hand motion before sand rushed from his gourd, allowed itself to get wet and turn to mud, and then slapped Sakura's once clean side.

She laughed and pointed to where the rest of Team Seven was currently having the biggest mud-fight in the history of Konohagakure. "Well then, Mister Invincible, why don't we test out that theory?"

Gaara heartily agreed, this time raising both of his hands to summon the sand.

- - -

It was assumed that the mud coating and dripping from Gaara's wet form had served to slightly conceal his identity. Sakura supposed that when people thought of Gaara, they thought of him as clean and pristine—as if he was a primadona of the sort.

The five of them stopped at a small fork in the empty, raining streets of Konoha, and Kakashi nodded to the left street. "Gaara, this is where you and I go report to the Hokage."

Gaara nodded solemnly as a single drop of mud fell from his chin to the ground. He heard Naruto and Sakura laugh somewhere behind him. "How long will this take?"

Kakashi shoved his hands in his pockets. "Not long. After we're done, I'll take you to a nearby hotel and you can get washed up."

The Sand boy nodded, following the much older man down the path.

"Hey!" Sakura shouted after them.

Kakashi turned to face her, but Gaara didn't give her that luxury.

"Gaara," she said, addressing him. He turned around, then, facing her with a filthy face.

"What?" was his solemn reply.

She smiled a little, despite the obvious dirty appearance she carried. "After you get cleaned up, do you want to meet me at the ramen bar next to the hotel? There's only one hotel in Konoha, so I'm sure you'll be able to find the—"

"No."

Her smile disappeared, and Kakashi's damned chuckling wasn't making it any better. "N…no?"

"No." And with that he continued on with the taller man, leaving Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke to stare after them.

Naruto whistled low and elbowed Sakura softly. "I don't think he likes you, Sakura."

She harrumphed and turned her back to where her teacher and Gaara had walked off moments ago. "See if I care! He's just a stubborn little brat."

"He'd kill you if he heard you say that," Sasuke commented, heading off towards his apartment. "I'm going home."

Naruto waved, and Sakura bid him a frowning farewell. "So…" Naruto said, rocking on the balls of his feet. He peeked around to face his mud-covered teammate. "Are you still up for ramen?"

She snorted and shoved him away. "Is that the _only thing _you eat?"

He shrugged. "It's the only thing that tastes good."

"Anyway," she said, silently disregarding him. "I've got to home and take a shower. I doubt these stains will come out."

"Can I walk you home?"

"It's raining; you're going to get sick."

"I don't care."

"Whatever."

The two of them set out, Sakura holding her arms around herself and Naruto keeping his hands in his pockets for warmth. Rain drummed around them, creating a grey glow on everything, even though it was barely mid-afternoon. Soon they came to Sakura's street, and only then did she speak. "Naruto, what do you think of Gaara?"

He shrugged. "I think he's an arrogant prick."

She rolled her eyes. "That's _obvious, _but what else do you think of him? Like, why does he act the way he does?"

"I'm not sure." He scratched his blond head, dislodging some caked-on mud in the process. "He's just moody, I think."

"But _why_ is he moody?"

"I don't know." He laughed a little then. "Maybe he was picked on as a kid?"

Sakura chuckled, too. "I doubt it. Everybody would be much too afraid of him to even get _near _him."

The two shared a brief moment of silence before they had come upon Sakura's front porch. She smiled at Naruto. "Do you still want to go eat at the ramen place by the hotel?"

He nodded vehemently. "Yeah! What time?"

"I guess in about an hour." She glanced at her surroundings once more before putting her hand on her doorknob. "But you're paying."

"Okay."

She nodded and walked inside, softly closing the door behind her.

---

The ramen bar was empty from what she could see through the windows, but Sakura didn't exactly mind. The _last _thing she wanted to deal with was people. So she walked slowly towards it, holding her umbrella above her head as raindrops pattered against it, running rivulets down the taut material of it.

Everything was still bathed in grey since the rain hadn't let up in the slightest, but it didn't matter to her. The bar was inside anyway, and her umbrella protected her just fine.

"You'd better have showed up," Sakura muttered to herself, scowling. "I'll throttle you if you haven't." She entered the little place, smelling the delightful scent of cooked ramen noodles and steamed dumplings, plus a few more things she couldn't quite identify. She kept the door open as she shook out her umbrella and closed it, and then ambled to an empty booth against a dotted window. She picked up a menu and began to read it, scanning the items carefully. Several different types of ramen littered the pages, and she could only find one meal that she wished to have. Sighing, she mused that she probably should have expected this. It _was_ a ramen bar, after all.

Soon she could see Naruto walking towards the bar in the distance, and she grinned subjectively. He was a fun guy—she had to admit—if only a bit _eccentric._

The door opened and he shook his head vigorously as soon as he stepped inside, flinging bits of water off of him. He had taken a shower, obviously, because all traces of mud were gone completely. He glanced around for a little while, finally spotting Sakura in one of the booths. He smiled wide, waved, and bounded over to her.

When he slid into the leather booth across the table from her, it squeaked loudly. He laughed a little, and that was when Sakura noticed that he was soaking wet from the toes up. She sighed in exasperation. "Naruto, don't you have an umbrella?"

He nodded. "I do, but I was running late and didn't want to leave you waiting." After this he laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, you'd better not get sick!" She wagged a finger in his face, pouting. "Because I don't feel like serving you chicken soup and orange juice all day tomorrow!"

"But you'd do it anyway, right?" he teased, smiling his closed-eyed smile.

She rolled her eyes, but agreed anyway. "So what're you getting, Naruto?"

"The usual," he replied, removing his outer jacket and revealing that his inner black shirt was dry. "What about you?"

"I'm not sure…" she said, pushing the menu towards him, "but I'm thinking about the steamed meat dumplings. It's a cold day outside, and this could be the thing to warm me up."

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of the restaurant door opening and closing caught both of their attention, and they turned to face it.

Gaara strode in through the door, gourd in tow as always. He was completely bone dry and clean, and there was no sign of an umbrella anywhere. He glanced around the small place, but otherwise didn't move.

Sakura looked at Naruto in question.

He shook his head. "I had nothing to do with this."

So Sakura pouted for a moment, staring at the red-haired boy with a mixture of confusion, anger, and reverence. Finally her hand shot in the air defiantly and she waved at him. She seemed to get his attention, because he stared at her with those green-blue eyes. "Hey, Gaara!"

Naruto sighed, giving her a pitiful glance.

She blinked. "What's wrong?"

"I thought this was just going to be me and you," he said, pouting.

She scoffed and threw a closed packet of chopsticks at him. "Don't be stupid! I had invited Gaara in the first place, anyway. I just didn't think he'd show up."

Soon Gaara was standing in front of their table, arms limp at his sides.

Sakura smiled and moved closer to the window, offering him a seat beside her. "Did you forget your umbrella outside or something? I didn't see you walk in with one."

He took the seat, removing his gourd and slipping it under the table at his feet. "I don't have an umbrella."

Her smile faded. "Oh."

"So, Gaara," Naruto began cheerfully, shoving the menu into the Sand-nin's face. "What do you want to eat?"

Gaara slapped the menu away. "I'm not hungry."

He furrowed his brow. "Not hungry…? Then why are you here? This is a _restaurant."_

"I was _asked _to come here," he replied, folding his arms as he watched a water droplet fall from Naruto's wet hair and onto the table.

A waitress appeared then, holding a tablet and a pen. "Good evening! What can I get you three?"

"Ramen!" Naruto triumphantly shouted, pumping a fist into the air.

"I'll take a steamed meat dumpling," Sakura said, sitting sideways in her seat to properly face the waitress.

The waitress nodded before pointing her pen to Gaara. "And you?"

He stared at her. "I'm not hungry."

"Well, would you like something to drink, then?"

"No."

She frowned, and Sakura quickly stepped in. "He'll…well, he'll take some curry." She smiled as the waitress walked away.

Gaara scowled at her, and she blinked. "What?"

His scowl deepened. "I don't _like_ curry."

She slapped a hand to her forehead. "You probably should've told me that _earlier, _Gaara."

---

The evening progressed smoothly from there, with the occasional conversation exchanged between Gaara, Sakura, and of course, Naruto. Sakura had traded her dumplings for Gaara's curry—much to her dismay—and had tried eating the spicy food in small bites, allowing herself time to cool down her mouth afterwards. Naruto had, of course, gulped down his ramen in record timing, and Gaara had eaten the dumplings at a fairly regular pace.

Finally, Sakura couldn't take how hot the curry was, and she pushed it aside. "So, Gaara, when do you plan to head home?"

"Tonight," he replied, not bothering to look at her. "I can just teleport periodically, if need be."

Naruto laughed. "You sound sure of yourself! What if you're attacked by rogue ninjas?" He began licking the bowl of his ramen.

"I'll kill them."

The blond boy blinked to look away from him. "Oh."

Silence fell past them, and Sakura found herself staring out the window at the rain. When the awkward moment finally dispersed, she began to speak again. "The rain hasn't let up much. Do you think it's raining in Suna?"

Gaara snorted. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because it doesn't rain in the desert." He took a bite of his last dumpling, now almost finished with his meal.

Trying to save herself some face, Sakura quickly dropped the subject. "So why did you decide to come here, anyway?"

"Because you asked me to."

Naruto chuckled behind his bowl. "If she asked you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?"

Gaara sneered. "No."

"Naruto, I don't think he gets it," Sakura commented, watching the two boys scrape what was left of their food. She glanced at a clock in the corner of the place, smiling gently. "It's already five."

"Wow, already?" Naruto asked, setting down the bowl at last. "I've got to get home." He smiled wide. "Got stuff to do."

"Yeah, me too," Sakura said, looking to Gaara and expecting him to jump in.

He shook his head. "I have nothing waiting for me there," he explained, reaching beneath the table to put a hand on his gourd. "Just like I have nothing waiting for me here." With that he stood, making a movement to leave.

"Wait!" Sakura called, and to her surprise, he did. "We have to pay the bill and leave a tip, right?" She watched Naruto set down money, grumbling about having to pay for Gaara also. "Besides, I'll walk you to the gates."

"That's not necessary."

She smiled and slung her umbrella over her shoulder, walking to him before finally standing next to him. Oh yes, he was definitely short. That much was _painfully _obvious. What would he look like when he got older? "It may not be necessary, but it's still nice."

"I don't need your kindness."

His reply had been so harsh; so biting. But she didn't pay heed to it, and instead shrugged. "Then consider it a favor _you're _doing for _me. _I need company."

Naruto appeared at that instant, chiming an "I'll go with you!"

They stepped outside and Sakura popped her umbrella open, motioning for the two boys to huddle beneath it with her. Gaara refused her offer, smirking haughtily as she watched a layer of sand form above him, blocking rain from falling on him. Naruto, though, shared Sakura's umbrella. And somehow, Sakura couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't used his "sand-umbrella" before.

They walked silently through the streets of Konohagakure, simply enjoying each other's presence. Rain fell all around them, creating a cold atmosphere and an even colder town setting. When the gates finally came into view, none of them had spoken a word.

"Well," Sakura said, taking a breath. "This is it." She stopped, and the other two stopped also.

Gaara nodded, turning to look at her.

She smiled, sort of crookedly, and outstretched a hand to him, reminding the both of them of their first encounter. "I hope to…see you again. I think."

He took her hand cautiously and shook it, noting the way it was wet from the rain it was being subjected to and how _despite _this it kept its warmth. "Probably not."

"Probably not what?" she asked as they both withdrew.

"We probably won't ever meet again," he said, turning to leave.

Sakura frowned and Naruto scoffed, rubbing his arms. "Well," she said, "I guess that's it, then."

Gaara gave her one more side glance over his shoulder before continuing forwards, into the forest.

"Bye!" Sakura waved, even though he couldn't see her. "Come back and visit sometime, okay?"

She heard him shout back a distant sort of "No," and huffed. "Fine then!" She pouted slightly, holding the umbrella close to her and ignoring Naruto's shivering stance. "Well, if you ever need anything," she called out, this time louder, "you can come see me anytime!"

This time he didn't answer. And before long, his form was no longer visible to Naruto and Sakura.

They stood there for a while after he left, Naruto chattering his teeth and Sakura just staring and frowning. Finally, Naruto tugged at her shirt. "We should go. I think I'm getting sick." He sniffled as if for emphasis.

Sakura sighed and let her shoulders droop. "Damn you, Naruto. I _told_ you not to get sick."

He rubbed his red nose as they began to walk back, pushed together under the umbrella. "Let's just hope Mister Grumpy doesn't just take up your little offer."

"Offer? Mister Who?"

He jutted a thumb behind him. "Your offer to let Gaara visit. If he ever comes and sees you, you'll have your hands full."

She laughed and punched him in the shoulder gently. "Yeah, especially with _you_ always on my tail."

He playfully whined a little, but the whines were cut short when he sneezed violently.

Sakura let out a tired puff of breath, pushing her bangs back from her face. She tugged him towards the street to her house. "C'mon, Naruto. I'll get you some chicken soup."


End file.
